WARWICK — A grief-stricken grandmother who lost a daughter-in-law and four grandkids in a fast-moving, three-alarm fire that reduced the family’s secluded Warwick home to a smoldering pile of rubble is struggling to come to grips with the unimaginably tragic loss as the small, tight-knit western Massachusetts community rallies around the two survivors.
“Four children,” the children’s inconsolable paternal grandmother told the Herald through tears. “One of the children made it out — I really can’t say anything.”
At an emotional press conference yesterday, Warwick fire Chief Ron Gates fought back tears as he recalled racing to the family’s Richmond Road home early yesterday morning after receiving a frantic 911 call about 12:45 a.m. reporting that the three-story house was going up in flames.
“There was nothing that we could have done different,” Gates said, his voice breaking. “When we got on scene, the house was totally engulfed — we lost a mother and four children.”
The northern Franklin County town, which has less than 800 residents, has only a dozen volunteer firefighters, Gates said. At least 16 area fire departments helped battle the blaze.
“We’re a very tight bunch and obviously this is tough on all of us,” Gates said.
Town Coordinator David Young said town residents were still grappling with the shattering news.
“The community has suffered a great loss of life,” he said, “a huge blow to our spirit that we are only starting to realize.”
And though they’re still mourning the loss of five members of a well-liked and well-known family, Young said he’s sure the town will be there for the two survivors, a man and child.
“The way that we’re coming together to respond and mourn our loss is uplifting,” he said. “I’ve known them since they moved to town six or eight years ago.”
Both parents, Young said, served in local government.
Diana Tandy, who works at Town Hall, called the loss of life “heartbreaking.”
“I’m shocked,” Tandy said. “They were wonderful people ... It’s a tragic event.”
When firefighters first arrived on scene, Gates said the two people who escaped told them five of their family members were still trapped inside.
Although the lack of available fire hydrants, the ferocity of the fire and bone-chilling conditions made battling the blaze extremely difficult, Gates commended the fire crews from around the region who worked through the night in a desperate effort to locate survivors. The water they used to fight the fire, he said, was drawn from a source about a half-mile from the scene.
The fire, officials believe, was accidental and sparked by a wood stove in the kitchen.
The bodies of the victims, whose names and ages were not released last night, were recovered hours after the blaze was extinguished, authorities said. The surviving victims were taken to a hospital in Keene, N.H., with non-life-threatening injuries. The fire is being investigated by state and local fire officials along with the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
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